HEZEKIAH’S REIGN

“The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him” (2 Kings 18:7 NKJV).

This verse sums up the reign of Hezekiah - one of the best kings of Judah. Three important things are said here about Hezekiah. They concern the presence of the Lord, the prosperity from the Lord, and the power from the Lord.

Presence of the Lord – “The Lord was with him.” The key to Hezekiah’s success was the presence of the Lord. Without the presence of God, no venture will be truly successful. We all need to seek God’s presence. Hezekiah desired the presence of God and demonstrated that fact by cleaning out the Temple for worship and destroying all the idols and other things involved with false worship. If we do not sense the presence of God in our lives, maybe it is because we do not desire the presence of God in our lives.

Prosperity from the Lord – “He prospered wherever he went.” The word translated “prospered” here means to act prudently, wisely. Hezekiah acted very wisely as a king. This wisdom came from the Lord, for God was with Hezekiah. When God’s presence is with us, wisdom will also be with us. Men play the fools when they push God out of their lives. The effort to push God out of our society will only result in our society becoming a very foolish society. Evidence of that foolishness abounds in our land today.

Power from the Lord – “He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not served him.” Hezekiah stood up against evil. It takes power to do that. When God’s presence is with us, the power and strength of conviction against evil will be with us. Many of us professing Christians are falling to temptation today. We do not stand up against evil, for we lack the power to do it. With little or no strength of convictions, we are overpowered by evil in our lives. Yet, this should not come as a surprise if we have not cultivated the presence of God in our lives. Because we spend so little time alone with God in prayer and Bible study, the ultimate result is weakness against evil.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Your obedience to God today determines what you’ll be for God tomorrow!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Desolation

In Matt. 24:15 we read, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand)!” (NKJV)

Desolation is the Greek word eremosis (ερημωσις). The word means a state of being made uninhabitable, devastation, destruction, de-population. It generally describes the state of being alone or abandoned. It is used several times in the Septuagint to mean desolate, deserted. Eremosis is used three times in the New Testament, two of which appear in phrase “the abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14). Although there is much controversy over the specificity of who or what that phrase refers to, it is safe to say Jesus used the term in foretelling the desecration and ultimate destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Jesus viewed this destruction in the light of the coming Day of the Lord, as did the Old Testament prophets before Him.

Bible Facts

Teraphim were generally regarded as household gods, or personal idols. These idols were shaped like humans and were seen as givers of prosperity, as well as associated with divination. In Gen. 31:19, Rachel takes the “household idols” (teraphim) belonging to her father Laban as her husband Jacob was fleeing from his father-in-law. This is the first mention of teraphim in the Bible.

Bible Quiz

At which temple gate did Peter and John find a crippled from birth?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: How did the apostle Paul advise the Philippians to respond to anxiety? “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God,” (Phil 4:6).

That’s in the Bible

“Take your breath away”

“You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust!” (PSALM 104:29 NKJV).

Something that is breathtaking is usually a splendid sight or fabulous occurrence. The real breath taker is the Lord Himself who actually does, according to the Bible, “take your breath away” when you die. In the beginning, God breathed into Adam, and he “became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). When we die, the Bible says God takes away our breath. To be breathtaking, then, is not always a good thing. God is breathtaking literally and figuratively, for His looks are breathtaking as well as His actions.

Did You Know – Christian History

John Kitto was born December 4, 1804. He was an English Biblical scholar of Cornish descent (an ethnic group associated with Cornwall, in the south west of Great Britain).

He had only three years of schooling, but with the help of his grandmother, he learned enough to devour any book that came into his hand.

At the age of twelve he fell 35 feet while carrying slate tiles up a ladder. Although he recovered from most of the injuries, he was never again able to hear. Despite his deafness, he was very observant and accumulated treasures of knowledge which found their way into his later writings. His retelling of Bible stories in the light of what he had seen brought the narratives to life and confirmed the accuracy of the ancient texts. He showed how the activities described by the prophets and apostles accorded with the realities of Eastern culture. He supplemented his own observations with details from the journals of other travelers, and helped the Bible reader to understand many things previously obscure or contradictory to the Western mind. His careful research into the geography, biology and archaeology of Bible lands served to support and encourage confidence in the accuracy of the Bible.

In all, Dr Kitto wrote a total of twenty-three books, including The Pictorial Bible, Pictorial History of Palestine, Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Daily Bible illustrations, The Lost Senses, Deafness and Blindness and more. He founded the Journal of Sacred Literature. Charles Spurgeon considered the Daily Bible Illustrations to be “more interesting than any novel that was ever written, and as instructive as the heaviest theology.” Kitto also wrote poems. In one of them, “Alternative,” he said that he would give all the sounds he had missed if in exchange he might have just one whisper of heaven.

In 1844 the University of Giessen conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree and he was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In 1850 he received a pension for life from the Government. He died on 25 November 1854 at Cannstatt, Germany. In 1989 the Burrington Secondary Modern School in Plymouth was renamed the John Kitto Comprehensive School in his honor, and later, the John Kitto Community College. In September 2010 it became the All Saints Church of England Academy, Plymouth.

A Little Humor

A man and his ten-year-old son were on a fishing trip miles from home. At the boy’s insistence, they decided to attend the Sunday worship service at a small rural church. The father forgot to bring any cash, so he reached in his pocket and gave his son a dime to drop in the offering plate as it was passed. As they walked back to their car after the service, the father complained. “The service was too long,” he lamented. “The sermon was boring, and the singing was off key.” Finally the boy said, “Daddy, I thought it was pretty good for a dime.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Salvation is not something we achieve but something we receive!’”